


june heat

by lokidreamsinbw



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Merman Loki, Underground Lake, and he found em, cause loki's gorgeous, short and sweet, thor went over there to look at beautiful things, traveler thor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-19 00:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14863493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokidreamsinbw/pseuds/lokidreamsinbw
Summary: Avid traveler Thor finds a whimsical merman in an underground lake.





	june heat

**Author's Note:**

> written as a tumblr prompt fill for Innocent Physical Contact + I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On  
> also inspired by this gorgeous art https://cuppyren.tumblr.com/post/174542015225/another-commission-wickedpeen-did-for-me-and-i  
> (hope it's okay to link this here!!)

Hiking down the slope that leads to the slumbering underground lake, Thor actually manages to, very ungracefully, drop his phone into the water.

“Shi—”

Thor bites his lips cause damn this echo turning a pissed off whisper into this eardrum splitting hiss.

Thor spots his phone for a sec, a ring of water rippling around it, droplets spraying all over the place. And then it goes under. The ring shrinks around the sinking phone until it disappears completely and after the flying droplets hit the lake noisily, It’s this earthy silence over everything once again and Thor just wanted to film a video, c'mon.

He holds unto the strap of his super heavy backpack cause camping fanatic ahoy! He did some googling looking for some cool places to see like two weeks ago, and found this little piece of heaven on earth and he got so excited when he ventured in and saw it looked just like in the pics with the large opening in the stone above letting the close to noon sunlight in and allowing velvety green leaves to come fluttering down onto the unmoving water. So naturally, he whipped out his phone and, hitting the record button got all National Geographic reporter and started going on and on about the level of moisture there, the type of stone (as if he knew anything about it, he can’t even tell lemon from lime and that’s with a first degree in film studies) and was like “you can feel that lake from here, you can always feel it in your bones when there’s water around. Primal.” Then boom, phone’s in the water and Thor just stares now at the spot it went down in like he half expects this fish to pop out of there phone in mouth and spit it out onto the ground coffee-colored earth with a you welcome jerk  look.

He looks over his shoulder at the entrance. It’s corn kernel sized now cause he’s been walking for a while but it’s still there he just needs to do a bit of climbing, and in his mind he’s retracing his steps to the cave and yeah it’s only a 15 minute walk till you get to the highway so it’s not going to be a live Lost episode.

His hand goes for his pocket to text his buddy Heimdall and go hey guess what just happened in Thor’s Life Sucks ep.10 season 3 but then it’s facepalm moment cause he doesn’t have a phone duh, better luck texting tapping away on fish scales.

And he puts his other hand on his hip and stares at the lake and thinks what if he falls in and ends up being devoured by some creepy prehistoric underwater sea creature. He considers climbing back up cause it’s just not his day and it shows, but instead he just keeps making his way down the slope, kicking up dust that smells like rain.

He’s got some boots and khakis on, unbuttoned shirt over a tank top, his chain with the lightning bolt pendant, and his beard itches and he just wants to go all golden retriever and put his face under and rub the water into his hair—insane June heat.

When Thor gets to the end of the slope, he squints and looks back—that was one long way down.

He walks up to the waterline, letting the backpack drop from his shoulders onto a soft bed of soggy leaves. He approaches the lake, a little curious and a little hesitant cause the silence coming off it feels unnatural in way. It feels as though he’s all alone in there, but actually isn’t and someone’s watching him and Thor looks up to examine the opening in the cave’s ceiling and hey it does look like a huge eye after all, all that blue skies and a shadowy tree bent over it—a cracked pupil.

With a sigh, Thor crouches down by the water. Stares at his reflection. The surface of the lake is so smooth he can see every hair in his dark blonde beard and actually uses the clear image to flick away some dirt from his chin.

Thor cups his hands and sinks them into the water. His wrists give a dull ache. It’s really cold.

He splashes some on his face, breath cutting off abruptly. Then on his hair. Then on the back of his neck where a newly acquired sunburn licks at his skin with a raspy tongue. Doing this feels divine. He scrubs at his scalp with his fingertips then smoothes his short hair back.

Feels so good he ducks his head underwater. He shakes it so the water gets nice and good into his hair, eyes closed, sucking his lips in.

Comes up for air, standing on all fours. Looks around. Still by himself in there. The sun paints with light on the shiny surface of the lake.

Thor takes a breath and puts his head under again. And then a thought maybe the lake isn’t that deep after all and he can dive in after his phone see if maybe it survived. So he opens his eyes, expecting to catch a glimpse of the bottom of the lake and spot his phone winking at him from there like come get me hero.

But instead he sees a face. And it’s staring up at him.

Thor gives a giant inhale. Sucks half the content of the lake into his lungs in that one gulp. Spluttering, he hops back so fast he falls down on the rocks, legs up in the air.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

It wasn’t like a dead body floating in there, it was a living thing, but it didn’t look human. Whatever it was, it had ears that looked like seahorse dorsal fins that the water flattened against its wavy dark hair, their membranes so thin you could almost see through them. The mouth was tinted minty- green, its corners had a little lift to them—it was smiling up at Thor!

Thor wipes a hand down his face, shaking the water from his hair without tearing his gaze away from the now still lake. Smooth surface—zero movement.

Still coughing like he has the damn croup, he blows a leaf off the back of his hand, eyes darting around, mouth hanging open.

His mind goes go take another look, go! And this other part of him goes hell no.

Splash!

A tail pops out of the water—an inverted triangle split down the middle, and the scales on it are as big as quarters, glistening basil-green and turquoise.

And hey, Thor watched the Little Mermaid with Heimdall’s 3 year old twins just two weeks ago and that right there is a classic mermaid tail. It gives Thor a little wave and Thor thinks ‘kay but this doesn’t look like a girl. So what, a merman?

“And you go and drop your phone like the biggest idiot ever, now who’s gonna believe ya.”

The tail disappears underwater and for a while it’s just Thor and the water going _drip drip_ falling off the ends of his hair.

But then the face pops up just between Thor’s legs and Thor goes whoa! And crawls back a bit on his hands cause yeah Ariel sang with lobsters or whatever and held phone conversations with seashells but maybe this one over here has like a mean agenda, better be careful.

He’s pretty though. Long lashes and green eyes and freckles on his nose and do mermen even get freckles.

“You freaked me out,” Thor accuses him but he’s not really angry, looking at this innocent face softens his heart.

“What are you doing out here. Shouldn’t you be underwater or something,” Thor points to the lake with all its leaves and floating flowers.

The merman blinks up at him then picks up a tiny rock. He makes sure Thor is watching before he drops it into the water.

Thor gives an amused chuckle, “oh, what. Did my phone falling into the water wake you up?”

The merman gives a small nod, flattening his palms on the ground at Thor’s feet. The fingers are slightly webbed and the nails are reef-fish pink.

Thor scrunches up his nose, “yeah, sorry about that.”

Then, he adds, squinting at him, “can you get it back for me.”

The merman studies Thor’s face for a while. Then his pale tongue comes out to swipe across his minty lips and he shakes his head.

“No? Why not.”

The merman points at Thor’s face then lets out a lovely melodic hum. Makes Thor a little dizzy like he just smoked some weed on a hot summer night.

Thor gives him a cocky smirk, “think I’m pretty?”

A nod coupled with an admiring look.

“What if I think the same about you.”

The merman bites his lips and looks down, abashed.

Thor smiles big cause hey who knew you could compliment a merman and make him blush like that.

“And you think that by keeping the phone from me you get me to stay?”

The merman points in the direction of the cave’s entrance. It’s just a spot of faraway light that flickers when the wind ripples across it.

Oh.

“Ah, or you get me to keep coming back,” Thor says, sitting back on his hands, more comfortably now.

A whimsical nod.

“Good thinking.”

The merman looks proud of himself, almost beaming with it.

Thor stretches out his legs, “I could get a new phone, though. This one’s probably busted.”

The merman’s face falls.

“Didn’t think of that one, huh.”

He wags his tail in the water—it moves this huge amount of water round, the fresh splash splash echoes round. Thor notices the merman’s tail is really big, it floats like a snake behind him, sleek and slippery, jumpy with a life of its own.

“You can’t talk?”

A headshake.

“But you can understand me.”

A nod.

Unreal.

“What’s your name?”

The merman hums. Sounds like it’s coming from everywhere, like the stone and the water and the light are singing. It’s a sweet little song and it sounds like a name.

Putting the sounds together, Thor guesses, “Loki?”

The merman gives a soft nod, loving the way his name sounds spoken aloud in the human language.

“Loki,” Thor muses, “I like it. What does it mean.”

Loki points. First to the opening in the ceiling. Thor’s eyes move over the golden beam cascading downwards toward the lake.

“Light?”

Loki nods.

Then, Loki points to the lake.

“Lake?”

A headshake.

“Oh, water!”

Loki wags his tail happily, sending flower petals flying into the air.

“Light water. That’s really beauty—argh, I can’t believe we’re having this conversation, is this even real.”

They stare at each other for a while. Thor has never seen a merman before. Loki has probably seen humans coming by to visit inside the cave but he’d never seen someone as beautiful as Thor.

Then, Loki touches Thor’s ankle. His hand is cold and it touches just where the pant leg rode up and exposed some tan skin.

Loki touches the skin like he’s studying a seashell feeling with his fingers just how smooth it is. He runs his hand up Thor’s leg over the green fabric.

“The same color as your tail,” Thor says.

When Loki’s hand reaches his thigh Thor lets out a hiss cause his skin burns but Loki’s hand is nice and cool. But it’s not just that—Loki’s touch, slow and exploring, tentative, causes Thor’s breath to quicken. He puts his hand on top of Loki’s, stilling it, because there’s the warm tingle deep in his belly now and his heart is starting to gallop in his chest and Loki doesn’t even know what he’s doing to him.

Loki pulls his hand back slowly, questioning Thor with his eyes, a little worried, a little hurt.

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just—”

Thor looks around, in search for something that sounds kinda right, “human stuff.”

Loki curls his fingers in the dirt, moving his tail from side to side slowly.

Thor lets out a heavy sigh and draws one knee close to his chest, watching him, a little bit sad.

The wind skips through the trees outside. There comes the rustle of leaves—you hear it before they come raining down through the opening, yellow and red and green. They brush past Loki’s arms and flutter by Thor’s face and stick to the water.

Loki pushes himself away from the bank and dives back in and retrieves Thor’s phone which of course is more than dead.

“Rip,” Thor mumbles, watching the water dripping off it and brushing some sticky weeds off the black case.

He shows Loki the phone, “does you giving me this mean you want me to go.”

Loki shakes his head. He picks up another rock and drops it into the water.

Thor can’t keep his smile in check cause “you want me to drop this in next time I come round to wake ya up?”

Loki gives him a beautiful smile.

“C'mere.”

Thor takes off his necklace as Loki swims up to the bank again. From up close Loki smells like lilies and sweet earth and Thor brushes a knuckle under his chin before he fastens the necklace around his neck. A promise to return.

The lightning bolt shimmers on Loki’s pale chest.


End file.
